Conventional computer systems use buses made of electrical conductors to carry and distribute data signals between components of the computer systems. Electrical signal buses provide a means to construct a flexible communication structure to link various components of the computer system together. As the data rates of modern computer systems increase (e.g., into the 10 Gbps range), however, electrical signal buses are becoming inadequate due to their inability to maintain signal integrity in high-speed applications.
Recently, optical signal buses using optical waveguides or other types of optical data distributing devices have been shown to be an attractive solution for transmitting signals in high-speed electronics with high signal integrity. The operation of an optical bus requires laser sources, which need to be effectively coupled to the corresponding optical data distributing devices.